


A Matter of Perspective

by JaneTheNya



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:08:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29029206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneTheNya/pseuds/JaneTheNya
Summary: The Phantom Thieves have a difference of opinion.
Kudos: 13





	A Matter of Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> Tiny scene I wrote awhile back that I really like. I wanted to expand on what's probably my favorite conversation in the Thieves' Den in P5R.

“You’re a coward, you know.”

Ann turned back to look at the source of the voice. The boy dressed in the white, princely outfit, almost ridiculously felicitous; pure and bright and much unlike the other Thieves. He had a demeanor like he was constantly winning an endless debate, proud and arrogant, with scarcely-masked contempt behind a veil of smug superiority.

“Mind explaining why…?” she asked with a bit of a frustrated sigh, leaning against the wall of the safe room a bit further. She was apart from the others, taking a bit of time to think. Akechi had never seemed to accept boundaries of personal space, though. He just broke on through.

“Suguru Kamoshida,” he said matter-of-factly, as if it meant nothing, as if it carried no weight. Ann shuddered, the name sending a chill through her even still.

“What about him?” she spat. She was already beginning to hate where this was going.

“He took so much from you… not just you, but your loved ones,” the boy continued, his face twisting into some vague approximation of sympathy, his tone still demeaning. “He went unpunished for years. The Phantom Thieves ought to have taken back everything he took from you, with interest… that, of course, includes his life.” There was a disturbing cheerfulness in the way he proposed that, but even stranger, a confusing sincerity behind those words that Ann didn’t often feel from the celebrity detective. Still, she wasn’t letting that distract her.

“Excuse me…?” she began, her voice low. “How fucking dare you?” She stepped forward and into his face, hands balling into fists. “What is my trauma, some kind of thought experiment to you?” Her face scrunched up in disgust, looking him over. He didn’t seem to be backing down.

“I’m only saying,” he said, his hand moving between the two to create space, “that I can’t understand what possible reasons you’d have for keeping scum like him alive. Except one.” He smiled, maybe sincerely. “Cowardice.”

A hard fist across his face, and the attention of all the other Thieves was on the two. Ann didn’t look away. She knew none of them would interrupt.

“What the fuck do you know!?” she shouted. “Do you have any idea what actually comes with the shit you’re saying? Yeah, I wanted to kill Kamoshida! I still do!” She turned away, hands gripping her head. “You’re talking from the high-and-fucking-mighty position of a person who doesn’t have to LIVE with those consequences.”

She turned back, tears in her eyes, looking him over. The irritating smile was gone now, his expression serious, but not sorry.

“I made a decision for myself,” she said, anger in her gaze burning a hole in the boy. “Not for Kamoshida, not for the Thieves, and not for YOU.” She took a deep breath. “I want to rebuild the life he destroyed for Shiho and I. I want everyone to know what he did. And I don’t want his fucking blood on my hands. He isn’t WORTH it.”

Akechi seemed to flinch at that. “What?” Ann followed. “You talk a big game, but when it comes to the consequences, you can’t handle it? That’s typical.” She scoffed and looked away, walking over to Makoto, who pulled her into a hug. Next to them, she reached a hand over to Futaba, shaking with her headphones over her ears. “I’m sorry for yelling, Futaba.”

She sighed and looked back at him, still standing there, face… somehow emotionless, distant. “One more thing,” she said sternly, breaking away to walk in front of him again. “You’re a fucking Phantom Thief now, got it? And that means you answer to all of us.” She motioned to the group. “You can’t just make whatever decisions you like. It’s unanimous or it isn’t happening.”

For a moment there was a spark in his eyes, a glint of hate and anger and that faded in a millisecond, his face breaking into a grin, stifling a laugh. “Duly noted,” he said.


End file.
